To calculate "total compensation," the website includes base pay, bonus, deferred compensation paid out, and severance. Young and McRaven started their jobs in 2015, so their pay in the survey reflects only the portions of the year that they worked. Their salaries are expected to surpass Khator's this year.

Defenders of the high salaries note that they are needed to retain top talent and that the leaders have a wide range of duties. As chancellor, Khator oversees the UH system, which has four universities, with more than 70,000 students and an annual budget exceeding $1.6 billion. She is also president of the UH main campus. McRaven leads the University of Texas system, one of the nation's largest, with 14 institutions and 210,000 students.

Yet, the Houston Chronicle notes that "salaries at the top have increased much faster than most faculty and staff salaries. And the colleges are paying more to their top administrators, even as they make perennial pitches to the state for more education funding and charge students higher tuition and fees to attend." Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has blasted Texas college leaders for raising tuition by 147 percent since 2003.

In 2015, Khator's pay was 169.9 times the median tuition, while Young's pay-to-tuition ratio was 117. Former University of Texas chancellor William Powers's compensation was 52.6 times the median tuition.